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Jason Anthony Griffith
Jason Anthony Griffith (born November 26, 1980, New York City, New York), (also known as J. Griff) is the current voice actor of Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Jet the Hawk. He worked as a voice actor for 4Kids Entertainment, where he voiced a variety of character in a variety of shows. When 4Kids localized Sonic X for United States viewers, Griffith took on the voices of both Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog. When Sega replaced all of the Sonic the Hedgehog voice actors with the Sonic X voice acting team, Griffith took over the voices of Sonic and Shadow from their previous actors, Ryan Drummond and David Humphrey. When Jet was introduced in Sonic Riders, Griffith began voicing that character as well. Sega's decision to replace Drummond has stirred up much debate in the Sonic fan community. ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' Series and Crossovers Voice Credits *''Sonic X'' - Sonic and Shadow *''Sonic Rush'' - Sonic *''Shadow the Hedgehog'' - Sonic, Shadow and Shadow Androids *''Sonic Riders'' - Sonic, Jet and Shadow *''Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)'' - Sonic and Shadow *''Sonic Rivals'' - Sonic and Shadow *''Sonic Rivals 2'' - Sonic and Shadow *''Sonic and the Secret Rings'' - Sonic and Shadow *''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games'' - Sonic and Shadow *''Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity'' - Sonic, Jet and Shadow *''Sonic Rush Adventure'' - Sonic *''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' - Sonic and Shadow *''Sonic Unleashed'' - Sonic/Sonic the Werehog, Professor Pickle's Assistant *''Sonic and the Black Knight'' - Sonic, Shadow/Lancelot, and Jet/Lamorak *''Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games'' - Sonic, Shadow, and Jet The Debate Since the decision to replace the original cast with the 4Kids staff, there has been a much debated war mainly over the internet on who the better voice actor for Sonic and Shadow is. Griffith's voice has been highly criticized for lacking the emotion that Ryan Drummond had brought to Sonic, but some have also praised it for making him sound more teenage, calm, and mature. The Werehog voice was mostly praised in Unleashed, saying Griffith fit the role perfectly. His voice for Shadow has been received with much praise, some saying he has captured Shadow's dark, emotionless, and somewhat smug demeanor perfectly. Many fans also felt Griffith did a much better job as Sonic in Unleashed and Black Knight than he did in previous games. Providing the voice of Keita Ibuki in Bandai Entertainment's dub of Kurokami: the Animation added to that praise. Chat Session * In July 2009, Jason and Mike Pollock (the current voice actor for Eggman) attended a chat session with over 120 fans. *In the session, he said he originally auditioned for Chris Thorndyke because he was a huge Sonic fan and wanted to see what it felt like to be Sonic's human companion, but a producer and represenitive from SEGA felt he sounded more like Sonic and ultimately got the role. *He also stated that there is no tension between him and Ryan Drummond. *He also told about how he became Shadow during a recording of One Piece. A recording engineer told him he should audition for Shadow using a dark voice trying to match David Humphrey's and got it. *He also said that the role of Jet The Hawk was something that SEGA wanted him to do. *He says the Sonic Games he owns are Sonic 1-3 & Knuckles, Sonic CD, and Unleashed (which is his favorite). *He also says out of all the roles he has done, Sonic is his favorite. *He also said that Sonic was his first ever voice acting role. He originally came to New York to study theater and heard about the Sonic X auditions which lead to his career as a voice actor.